Modeling Routines And Organizational Learning. A Discussion Of The State-of-the-art

This paper presents a critical overview of some recent attempts at building formal models of organizations as information-processing and problem-solving entities. The authors distinguish between two classes of models according to two distinct objects of analysis. The first class includes models mainly addressing information processing and learning; the second class includes models focusing upon the relationship between the division of cognitive labor and search process in some problem-solving space. They argue that these are important formal tools towards the development of a comparative institutional analysis focusing on the distinct properties of different forms of organization and accumulation of knowledge.